


Dark, Dark, Dark, Light

by autumnsbliss



Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Spoilers, it's probably gonna end up being a little canon divergent because my mind has a mind of its own
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-23
Updated: 2018-09-23
Packaged: 2019-07-15 21:28:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16071689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/autumnsbliss/pseuds/autumnsbliss
Summary: The story of the apprentice (Sabrina)'s death and rebirth.





	Dark, Dark, Dark, Light

It started out as a tragedy, albeit a tragedy that was easy to ignore in a sense. Of course her smile would falter when she would hear whispers around town of people falling ill, and something in the pit of her stomach would curl as those whispers became more frequent and more panicked as the days passed. 

It didn't take long for the townspeople to grow concerned. Friends...family members...they would be feeling under the weather one day and be saying their final goodbyes the next. As the disease began to fester and spread, everyone began to grow restless. People began to hide away in fear that they were next as they watched friends and neighbors fall victim to the wicked virus around them. There was no cure. It manifested and became fatal too quickly to find one.

What began as an easy to ignore tragedy soon evolved into an epidemic. Fear and panic ripped through the streets of Vesuvia and quickly reached Asra's little magic shop, as he sat huddled in the candlelight with his love, her hands in his. Worry painted his expression, but he kept its verbalization tucked away. There was no need to scare her any further. He could already see the glimmer in her green eyes that confessed her unease. 

When she decided she could no longer sit helplessly and idly by as what was becoming known as the Red Plague ravaged the city she called home, that was when she began to work with Doctor Devorak. The decision passed her feeling of helplessness on to her partner, however. Long nights were spent waiting up for her...worrying that one day he would look into her soft, adoring eyes only to find them tainted with a red sclera. His heart would hammer in his chest each time he would hear the door to his shop open. And he would pray to beings he wasn't entirely sure he believed in that every night she would come home and fall into his arms without a trace of his worst fear. 

Until it became too much. He wanted -- needed -- her to run away with him. To leave Vesuvia and the Red Plague behind them. To live a life together without fear of when their story would be cut short. Without having to live under the harsh rule of the Count. 

But she refused. She couldn't leave her home. Not when it needed her most. And Asra, for the first time in his life, allowed a streak of selfishness to let him leave her behind. 

Without him, Sabrina entrenched herself further into her work with Doctor Devorak. As the fate of Vesuvia grew more dire with each passing hour, her desperation only intensified. She began to work tirelessly, losing sleep and pushing herself to her limit...until the morning she woke up feverish. 

She had expected to panic. To cry, or to scream. But she was comfortably numb. She had put enough time into her research to know. 

She had the plague...and she was going to die. 

The peace that she had made with the situation from the beginning allowed her to isolate herself from the world for the final three days of her life. Nothing hurt. She didn't feel anything until her final moments, when her hands were cold without someone to hold them, and the room she was dying in was painfully quiet without him. Her lips parted -- dry and cracked -- and she caught a final glimpse of her blood red eyes in a reflection when she spoke. 

"...Asra..."

Her mind wanted to say more -- to say goodbye despite it falling on no one's ears -- but her body couldn't. Instead she took a final breath, clinging to the last bit of life she could find before everything went dark.

Dark.

Dark.

She choked on the breath that filled her lungs, and she could feel a pair of warm hands settle in a soothing pressure against her back. Everything was hazy, but she allowed her eyes to slip open...meeting an unfamiliar pair of purple eyes partially covered by the soft white hair that fell into the strangers face. She could swear a hint of intense emotion flashed across his features, and his eyes shimmered briefly with tears as a smile tugged at the corners of his lips.

Light.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first AO3 fic and my first Arcana fic so I hope it's up to everyone's standards! Thanks for reading!


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